Design of a Data Base of Educational Indicators for Use in Policy Analysis. Final Report.

Munger, Frank J.; Morrison, James L.

Educational indicators are a subset of social indicators. They are consistently measurable, conceptually based, policy relevant, and related to the educational process. They can be used to compare educational units, monitor change, test goals, and predict the effects of policy changes. Use of educational indicators requires identification of the points at which external changes or decisions by policy makers will or can affect the situation under consideration and the degree to which the situation will be affected. Much of the data needed for developing educational indicators already exists, and should be gathered into accessible archives along with new data applicable at state, district, and individual-student levels. Making effective use of the indicators requires cooperation between educational researchers and policy makers. Several alternatives for structuring this cooperation are available, and should be combined in different ways for different situations. A permanent staff at the archives can assemble the relevant data, cast it into usable form, and disseminate it through the most effective channels. The cost of maintaining archives to serve a region of several states is estimated at $235,000 in 1980 dollars. Appendixes list data sources and include a lengthy annotated bibliography on social indicators, future studies, and policy analysis. (PGD)